These comments are being submitted on behalf of Glaxo Wellcome Inc. ("GWI")
in response to the request for comments from the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN") on the proposed Uniform Dispute
Resolution Policy ("UDRP"), published on ICANN's Web Site on September 29,
1999. Glaxo Wellcome views the UDRP as a good first step, and applaud the
efforts of ICANN in preparing this policy. As a company committed to
discovering and bringing innovative medicines to market, we are pleased that
ICANN has attempted to take into account the importance of intellectual
property rights, including trademarks, when drafting the UDRP.
After reviewing the UDRP and the comments that have submitted to date, Glaxo
Wellcome supports the comments of the International Trademark Association
("INTA"). We also wish to make the following additional observations:
Section 4(a)(iii)
We recommend that the phrase "has been registered
and is being used in bad faith" be deleted and replaced with the following:
"has been registered, acquired or is being used in bad faith."
This proposed change will accomplish two objectives:
(1) it will clarify that the practice of "warehousing" domain names would
constitute an "Applicable Dispute" pursuant to the UDRP (as appears to be
contemplated by the factors set forth in Section 4(b)) and (2) it would
clarify that the bad faith acquisition of a domain name registration from a
third party would qualify as an "Applicable Dispute" (consistent with
Section 4(b)(i), which includes acquiring a domain name as significant
activity).
Section 4(b)(i)
We wish to amplify the recommendation of INTA that the words
"registration of" should be inserted before the last occurrence of "domain
name" in this sub-section. This will curtail the practice of "piling on"
expenses relating to the development of a Web Site and other general
business expenses not directly related to a particular domain name
registration in the context of discussing a domain name transfer.
Section 4(c)
To ensure that the factors outlined in this section are
weighed in the same manner as the factors outlined in section 4(b), we
recommend that the phrase "shall demonstrate your rights" occurring at the
end of the introduction to this section be replaced with "shall be evidence
of".
Section 4(c)(i)
We further recommend that phrase "bona fide" be inserted in
the first line of Section 4(c)(i) after the words "use of" and again on the
second before the word "preparations." This will clarify that token or sham
activities will not be sufficient to maintain a domain name registration.
Section 4(c)(ii)
We wish to amplify the statement of INTA that this provision
should be deleted from the UDRP. This provision would permit any party to
circumvent the Policy by claiming that a particular domain name is that
person's nickname. Any provision to recognize a person's name-related
rights should be more objective and should be tied to the person's legal
name or to commonly recognized derivations of that name.